4. The Iconic Poster Almost Never Happened
Photo: twitter
Even if you didn’t make it to the theaters when Jaws released, you’ve surely seen the iconic poster where the woman is swimming on the surface and a giant shark is headed right for her. It turns out that it was designed by Roger Kastel for the paperback edition of Benchley’s book. Kastel used the Great White Shark diorama from the American Museum of Natural History for inspiration on the massive shark. And as far as the woman swimming on the surface, he used a female model that he was already working with for an ad in Good Housekeeping magazine. Apparently, he asked her to stay an additional 30 minutes one day and had her pose pretending to swim. The rest, as they say, is history.